Holmes, 51, introduced the interview, saying: "She was on her way home from a night out with her friends and walking home - didn't take a taxi.
"It's that old thing, I always say. Why were you tempted to walk home?"
Miss Cant explained she had been with a friend and had walked the last two streets alone to her home as she had done many times before.
She said: "I thought it would be ok."
Holmes said: "But it wasn't."
Miss Cant went on to speak of how she feared she would die during the ordeal, and was left fearing for her life after her attacker warned her not to go to the police.
At the end of the interview, after thanking her for appearing, Holmes said: "I hope you take taxis now.
"Everywhere you go, coming home at night."
He then turned and asked his wife and co-presenter Ruth Langsford: "How many times do I tell people who I know to take taxis?"
Hundreds of outraged viewers took to social media web sites to protest, accusing the presenter of "victim blaming".
Kay Davies, from charity Rape Crisis, said: "I think its very sad in this day and age that people are still looking to the actions of the survivor, rather than being really, really clear that women have got the right to live their lives without fear of being raped.
"He was almost putting across that she had been a foolish little girl.
"I was saddened by it. This is a very, very common attitude that we hear every day of the week.
A spokeswoman for ITV confirmed they had received 26 complaints from viewers about Eamonn Holmes' comments.
But she said: "Eamonn was in no way suggesting that the victim was in any way to blame for this horrific attack.
"His interview was carried out with the utmost care and compassion and his comments were intended to highlight safety advice.
"Hannah was happy with the interview and not in any way offended by Eammon's advice."
Philippa Willitts, wrote on the blog of the women's rights site F-Word: "The moral of the whole story was that, frankly, none of this would have happened if she hadn't dared to be outside, near her house, when a kidnapper and rapist was around.
"The victim-blaming attitude encompassed in that one sentence is as astounding as it is offensive.
"The truth is that women cannot win with attitudes like Eamonn Holmes's around.
"If we don't blame the perpetrator, things will never, ever change."
She added: "I had the programme on in the background and this woman caught my attention - she had done the most incredible thing.
"But when it got to the end of the interview and I heard what Eamonn said, I did a literal deep breath. I thought 'my God, did he really say that?'
"It seemed to say to her 'oh you silly girl, if you had got a taxi you would have been fine'.
"One of the big things when you have been through rape is that most people do an awful lot of blaming themselves anyway.
"It takes quite a lot of hard work to stop doing that and the last thing you need is for someone else to say it, however well-intentioned it is.
"I'd like to see an apology, but I'm not sure how much difference it would make."
Hundreds of people took to Twitter, expressing their views using the hashtag #victimblaming and #patronisingfatherfigure.
@absinthetweets wrote: "Hard to believe that Eamonn Holmes comment. Just hand-to-mouth-shocked-face awful."
Another commentator wrote online: "I can't believe that they would ruin a brave woman's (most likely) harrowing interview by making such a flippant, dismissive and stupid comment."
Holmes apologised on air earlier this month after This Morning viewers complained at him branding celebrity guest Jonathan Wilkes "retarded".
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